Dear Friends,
This week I got some bad news about a client who passed after going to the hospital. Her daughter felt that she was over medicated and had far too many procedures. This prompted me to do some research on prescription death rates. In so doing, I stumbled across an online article called “The Dangers of Herbs” by an author, Ashira R of which I could find little information. She didn’t even use her last name. I found this odd because I didn’t do a search for dangerous herbs. This, as you can imagine, caught my attention and I had to know more about these “killer” herbs.
Upon reading I found that much of it was about misidentified herbs, well-known poisonous herbs, or out right ridiculous assertions (like her claim that bay leaf is a carcinogen).
Bay leaf? The wonderful flavor in Manhattan clam chowder and pea soup?
Run for your lives! They’re serving clam chowder!
The article was peppered with statements like, “Aloe is a wonderful herb to heal external wounds and burns – taken internally is dangerous.” AND “American or Black Hellbore is a violent narcotic that effects the heart – it can kill”. Was the author talking about the aloe juice that relieves acute constipation, digestive problems, the same aloe that helps detoxify and balance the body’s ph factor and also is an anti-inflammatory when ingested? Black Hellbore? What obscure hat did she pull that out of? This is a plant that is known more for its long lasting and attractive flowers than for its medicinal properties. The only use of hellbore this herbalist can recall is that Hippocrates used it as a purgative (to induce vomiting) and an anthelmintic (to expel worms). But it has properties very similar to the drug, digoxin; and there are so many herbs that are safer and more effective than hellbore.
Now let me be clear; I wouldn’t consider using any form of hellbore and I inform my clients who are pregnant or nursing not to consume aloe juice for prolonged periods due to the remote possibility it could cause uterine contractions and jeopardize the pregnancy. What’s more, Aloe is such a good detoxifier that it can cause impurities to be expelled through the breast milk; therefore I don’t recommend drinking aloe juice to detox while nursing.
I completely trust the safety and efficacy of the herbs I use; nonetheless, I also know that if there is an unsafe herb around, there is probably someone waiting to abuse it beyond all reasonable protocol. This prompted me to do a little research. I felt certain that herbs are much safer in light of the yearly prescription drug deaths we experience every year. However, what I found amazed even me.
Herbs Compared to Pharmaceuticals
The yearly expected deaths from the use and/or abuse of herbs (including cannabis) = 0. That’s right! Zero! https://ourworldindata.org/what-does-the-world-die-from. So I took it one step further to see what the mortality rate from “weight-loss formulas” that use extracted properties such as ephedrine from the ephedra plant. http://www.digitalnaturopath.com/treat/T327561.html I was unable to find out the time period, but up until 2004 when ephedra was banned there was a total of 155 deaths. This is surprising because they actually had to change the laws to ban an herb. For this reason I always use whole herbs. I disagree the scientific view that tries to find the so-called “magic bullet” in a plant. This produces nothing more than a pharmaceutical that overrides the innate intelligence built into our body’s immune system.
I have to wonder why no one is calling for acetaminophen (Tylanol) to be banned, it causes almost 1000 deaths every year.
That is but one drug, so let’s take a look at death rates from all pharmaceuticals. In 2006 the estimated total number of iatrogenic deaths—that is, deaths induced inadvertently by a physician, surgeon, medical treatment or diagnostic procedures— 783,936 in the US annually. The estimated number of prescription drug deaths per year is 106,000. This does not include intentional overdose or abuse. That is 106,000 deaths from properly administered, prescribed drugs. That number is more than double the amount of 37,465 deaths attributed to all illicit drugs combined for the same year.
You have to ask your self why then does the FDA never approve an herb as being safe while it rubber-stamps pharmaceuticals one after another following only minimal studies? What’s more, this clinical research is done by the very same manufacturers of these drugs who ultimately will profit from the sales of said drug. As if that weren’t enough, they get to pick and choose the studies and subjects they include in the submission for FDA approval. Does anyone see a conflict of interest here?
In Fairness to Our Medical System
I’m not saying that allopathic medicine is of no value. Quite the contrary, in spite of our prescription drug deaths, our system is probably best in the world for acute illness or traumatic injury.
My concern is that we, as a nation are using ever-increasing amounts of drugs from pharmaceutical companies under increased pressure to make higher profit margins. This in-turn puts us at risk of unforeseen or unexpected side effects and deaths.
What I am saying is that you need to take your health into your own hands. If not you could end up like one of my clients who has unquestionably taken prednisone (in large amounts) prescribed by her doctor for 39 years. Now her bones are disintegrating, her diabetes is off the charts and she is unable to reduce her dose by even the smallest amount without horrendous reactions. I’m sad to tell you I know too many people who have been harmed by the very professionals they sought out to help them.
If you have a chronic condition I urge you to investigate natural ways to treat it. Then you take your health into your own hands and you will truly heal.
Most diseases are due to a deficiency or toxicity. After all, an aspirin might help a headache but having a headache doesn’t mean you have an aspirin deficiency. The aspirin merely masks the pain without getting to the cause of the problem.
However, if you have a problem with headaches, feverfew and wood betony are magnificent herbs to treat headaches. Both can be found in my Migraine Remedy.
Love and Light, Lori
